Facebook and Co. are pushing into online retailing
While online shopping has long been part of everyday life, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are also increasingly influencing purchasing and consumption habits in Switzerland. Retailers need to adapt to this.
A Facebook user advertises a product with the "like" button, another user then buys it: in this way, Facebook is changing from a social forum to a platform through which purchases are made, said Thomas Rudolf from the University of St. Gallen, who presented a study on Internet use in Zurich on Monday. Facebook and Twitter are already an important factor for retailers around the world. Even those with a particularly successful or funny commercial on the YouTube film portal can quickly reach a huge audience via recommendations on social networks. The smartphone, on the other hand, takes on the role of a "shopping assistant", which can be used, for example, to find out about attractive shopping offers with the help of Google Maps and then select the stores.
Between 2006 and 2010, spending on online purchases in Switzerland doubled from CHF 4.24 billion to CHF 8.68 billion. Online retail (e-commerce) has become a permanent fixture in Swiss commerce and is thus attracting advertising money at the expense of traditional media. According to Rudolph, e-commerce has added around ten percent to the Swiss trading volume since 2000 thanks to sales platforms such as E-Bay. Airline tickets and travel in particular are bought online. The Swiss also like to buy banking services, admission tickets and software at the click of a mouse. Food, furniture, jewelry and cosmetics are still largely bought in stores, according to the University of St. Gallen. Bookshops are also increasingly managing to lure customers back into the store.
No age limits
Online retail is receiving an increasing boost from older people with purchasing power, as the age limits for Internet use are increasingly disappearing. Easy-to-use tablet computers such as the iPad make it even easier for the web community to make purchases at the click of a mouse. The example of financially well-padded senior citizens shows that price tends to play a subordinate role when buying online. "Convenience and good quality are in demand," said expert Rudolph.
(SDA)
